Environmentalists are urging the federal government to block the development of a central Queensland coalmine that would allow hundreds of hectares of endangered koala habitat to be cleared.
The Queensland government approved the Vulcan South coalmine in the Bowen Basin earlier this month without requiring an environmental impact statement (EIS).
But the project still needs approval from the federal environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, to go ahead.
If Vitrinite is granted final approval for the mine, the company will be licensed to clear 770 hectares of koala habitat, 39 hectares of greater glider habitat, 36 hectares of vulnerable glossy black cockatoo habitat, and 1,024 hectares of vulnerable squatter pigeon habitat.
The federal government listed the koala as endangered in 2022 after a decline in its numbers sparked by land clearing and bushfires. More than 90,000 hectares of Queensland koala habitat was cleared in a single year for beef production, according to 2022 data.
The mine is one of several applications that has been able to sidestep the EIS requirement as it is under the 2m tonne annual threshold.
Vitrinite will mine 1.95m tonnes of coal each year or up to 13.5m tonnes over a nine-year period.
The company has already been granted approval for an adjacent mine, Vulcan, in March 2022 that will also produce 1.95m tonnes each year.
Dr Coral Rowston, the director of Environmental Advocacy in Central Queensland, called on Plibersek to “do better” than the Queensland government and block Vulcan South’s approval.
“The approval of a climate-wrecking coalmine that plans to wipe out more than 300 Gabba-sized football stadiums of koala habitat is an absolute disaster for Queensland’s iconic species,” Rowston said.
“Federal environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, can and must ... make good on her commitment to no new extinctions by refusing the Vulcan South coalmine and protecting this important area of central Queensland koala habitat.
“This coalmine will also place other threatened species who call the local area home, like the greater glider and glossy black cockatoo, under even more pressure.”
Dave Copeman, the director of Queensland Conservation Council, said the mine should not be approved, from either a climate or biodiversity perspective.
“This mine has been approved through a loophole in the Queensland Environmental Protection Act that environmental groups have been calling on the Queensland government to close for years,” he said.
“At a federal level, this referral is with minister Plibersek, and we are calling on the minister to reject the [application]. It would result in unacceptable damage to threatened species habitat, including the endangered koala and greater glider.”
Plibersek’s office said the minister could not legally comment on decisions before her.
A departmental spokesperson said the Vulcan South coalmine proposal will undergo “a robust, scientific assessment of its potential impacts on matters protected under the [Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act].
“It will only be approved if appropriate avoidance, mitigation, and monitoring measures, to avoid unacceptable impacts on matters protected under the EPBC Act, are in place. These measures may be incorporated into enforceable conditions of approval.”
Vulcan South is the first new coalmine approved by the Queensland government since Steven Miles became premier. Whitehaven’s Winchester South coalmine – which would produce up to 17m tonnes each year – is also expected to be approved after it received the coordinator general’s sign-off last year.
Miles last year addressed one of the environment movement’s most pressing concerns within a week of being sworn in by banning new oil and gas developments in the Lake Eyre Basin.
He also used his first speech as Queensland premier to more than double the state’s emissions reduction target to 75% by 2035 – making it one of the most ambitious in the country.
Guardian Australia contacted the Queensland premier for comment but an environment department spokesperson responded to the enquiry.
The spokesperson said every proposed project is assessed “on a case-by-case basis” and undergoes “a rigorous environmental assessment to ensure the project meets legislative standards … regardless of whether an EIS is required or not”.
“This includes actions taken to mitigate impacts on protected species such as koalas,” they said.
They said additional conditions were included in the environmental authority application for the Vulcan South project “to minimise impacts to threatened species habitat and to ensure the rehabilitation of all disturbed habitat… after the project is complete.”
“The EA approval also requires the holder to develop and implement a greenhouse gas abatement plan based on the expected emissions that will be produced during the life of the project,” they said.
Guardian Australia has contacted Vitrinite for comment.
